Ellen Alien

I came to see and hear Sascha as I love his production work. I wasn’t that worried about Ellen. I arrived as Sascha came on. Solid mixing sometimes going to 2 turntables and a cd player and keeping it in the mix. Nice blend of classic Detroit trax and hard acid swirling German stormers. The crowd ate it up as I kept peeling off layers due to the crowd and heat up front. By the time Ellen showed the crowd was cheering for her to walk on the stage. The wait and anticipation apparently building for years. Nice trade off between the two with Sascha getting as large a roar as Ellen.
I had heard Ellen’s mixes online and always found her slightly boring and a bit sloppy. I have quit listening to online mixes as I am swamped with new music every day and can’t keep up with deluge of electronica that crosses my desk. For the past year I like to SEE and HEAR a dj in a club before I pass judgment or share a critique to others. Ellen’s label and production has stood the test of time and she certainly is known for having a great ear and choosing talent to surround herself with. Last night my opinion evolved so much more. I am regressing into a vinyl purist as I listened to Hawtin’s sad R.A. 100 mix and keep having to watch dj’s play cds. For a headphone set maybe Ellen isn’t the dj you want to hear seamlessly mix for hours but this is live damnit! She played ALL vinyl and pushed numerous mixes for upwards of 5 minutes. I think I clocked the mix she dropped the classic +8 track for nearly 8 minutes. Some of the tracks she dropped were off kilter and had crazy time signatures with some containing live percussion. She rocked my world. Anyone who says Seattle doesn’t get techno obviously wasn’t in Chop Suey last night. Hard dark bleak minimal acid FUCKING TECHNO for her entire 1 hour 40 minute set! I wanted more as I know many others did. Thursday IS the new Friday in Seattle. It didn’t hurt that she appeared to me so much more attractive in person than on youtube She made jokes afterwards and declared Seattle the most beautiful city on the planet. We exchanged emails and she made a joke that we could carry on a cyber long distance love affair in her broken German. Ok, I swooned.
I am a bit disappointed that anyone can complain about her getting slightly off in a mix when she used all vinyl and kept in the mix for so long. She is a true disc jockey. I will take her slightly imperfect but human vinyl mixes over any cd, traktor, seratto dj any time! Thanks to everyone involved that got the start of this tour in Seattle: broken disco, chop suey and neumos.
For a last p.s. and the only negative thing I am going to say. Chop Suey HAS to sort out their sound/volume issues. That was the muddiest I have ever heard that club and their was no front room to add to the volume.
For pix check here: http://www.eyeconscious.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3232&g2_navId=x9c913fc8